Location based services have been known for some years in which users of location aware devices are able to request information from a location based service about services or points of interest specific to a user's present location. Typically, a user enters into a device some information about the user's current location, or alternatively the device may have a ‘where am I’ function and the device via GPS locates the current location of the device. The device then returns a list of nearby services or points of interest. A user is then required to browse through the list and select the items of interest.
The above approach for finding location specific information has drawbacks because a user is required to request location specific information each time the user enters, for example, a new town or a new city. The location awareness device then lists a number of location specific data which may or may not be of relevance to the user.
With the advent of many different types of systems offering users a variety of geospatial information, a challenge arises in how to efficiently communicate this information to requesting users.
Unfortunately, existing systems are overly complex.